Few teams have approached the home-road dichotomy that has plagued the Colorado Rockies since their debut season in 1993. For whatever reason, the Rockies are a completely different team at Coors Field than away from it. And that is haunting them again.

The Rockies currently are the majors’ coldest team, and it should come as no surprise that their tailspin has been fueled by a disastrous road trip that will conclude Tuesday evening in San Francisco. Colorado has lost four consecutive games and eight of its past nine as it sinks precipitously closer to the NL West cellar.

A look at the Rockies’ 20-year home/away splits, as well as this season’s performance and outlook:

1993-2011

Only once in this span did Colorado finish a season over .500 on the road. That was in 2009 when it went 41-40 away from Coors Field and won the NL wild card—before being quickly dismissed by the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. Likewise, the pitching staff has finished with a sub-4.00 road ERA only one in the franchise’s history (3.71 in 1995). That also was a wild card-winning season that resulted in a four-game exit in the NLDS. Only the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered more road losses than the Rockies from 1993-2011.

Offensively, Colorado never has topped 400 runs scored on the road but has scored 400-plus runs in every season of its existence at home (with the exception of the strike-shortened 1994 season). In fact, the Rockies own nine of the best 10 season in terms of home batting average since 1993, as well as six of the top seven run totals at home in that span. The team’s 833 home wins from1993-2011 rank a respectable 13th in the majors.

2012 TO DATE

At 5-11 on the road, the Rockies have fewer road victories than every team in the majors except the last-place Minnesota Twins and last-place San Diego Padres. But don’t blame the pitching. The staff’s 4.20 road ERA is 16th in the majors and ranks ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays’, San Francisco Giants’ and Los Angeles’ Angels’ staffs. By comparison, Colorado’s 5.75 home ERA is the majors’ worst.

Instead, point the finger at the offense. In 18 home games, the Rockies are first in the majors in runs per game (6.50) and slugging percentage (.490), and they are third in batting average (.282) and on-base percentage (.357). In 16 road games, they are 27th in batting average (.216), 28th in slugging percentage (.340) and 29th in on-base percentage (.281) and runs per game (3.06).

THE NEXT MONTH

If the Rockies are going to save their season with one of their patented charges (see: 17-1 run in June of 2009; 14-1 run in September/October of 2007), now would be a great time. On Wednesday, they will begin a stretch in which they will play 18 of their next 27 games at Coors Field.